Lander Swimmer Jonny Kulow Part Of Rare Double Swim-Off At Olympic Trials

The U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials witnessed some great competition over the past week, with one of the standout moments provided by a Wyoming native.

Jonny Kulow of Lander was part of an extremely rare double swim-off in the 50-meter freestyle Thursday to determine the last spot in the final.

And while the swim-off didn’t go his way, it was still a solid finish to the trials for Kulow, who also swam the 100-meter free earlier in the week.

“Obviously I'd be more happy if I had gotten the chance to swim in the final, but I feel good about how I did in the first swim-off, and how I handled the process of going into both,” said the former Lander Valley High School standout who swims for the Arizona State University Sun Devils. “And I’m glad I got to represent Wyoming on such a big stage.”

The Olympic trials brought the best swimmers in the United States for a week of competition in Indianapolis, Indiana, at Lucas Oil Stadium that drew record crowds for a swimming event with more than 20,000 people in attendance. Nearly 1,000 athletes competed.

“It was crazy,” said Kulow said, who’s a five-time Pac-12 Conference champion. “Walking out for semifinals for the 100 I was like, ‘Oh, wow, there's a lot of people here.’ Obviously, this is one of the highest stakes meets that anybody can ever attend.”

Double Swim-off

The 50-meter free semifinals were extremely close, with all 16 swimmers in the preliminaries finishing within 0.76 seconds of each other. Kulow, who just finished his sophomore year at Arizona State University, swam in the second semi and posted a time of 21.89 seconds to tie Adam Chaney from the University of Florida, who swam in the first race.

“I was ready to do it and I had a good feeling about it,” Kulow told Cowboy State Daily about the swim-off. “I honestly wasn't happy with my swim in the semifinal, so I was excited to get another chance to do it again and try and fix up some of the little details.”

The pair had about 45 minutes to cool down and prepare for the second swim. At the gun, Chaney took an early lead before Kulow surged and caught him at the wall. It was a photo finish and when both turned to look at their time — the board flashed 21.79 for both. The crowd in attendance erupted at another tie. It was also a personal best for each and would have placed them fourth in the semis.

“To see a tie again I was just like, ‘No way is this happening,’’’ Kulow said. “There were four other swim-offs during the meet and they've all been extremely close. Of course the one swim-off I get put in, it ends up in another tie. But I was stoked about my time. I swam just about as well as I possibly could have.”

Thinking they would wait until the following morning for the second swim-off, the two were told a short time later they would actually be swimming again that night. So at 10:30 p.m. they swam their third 50 meters in 90 minutes.

“Neither of us knew what was going to happen after that second tie,” he said. “I honestly thought we were going to wait until Friday morning, so I didn’t go right away to the cool-down pool to start getting ready and I should have. But it was another chance to try and do a little better, so I was excited to do it again.”

As with the first race, Chaney had a great start, and this time Kulow wasn’t able to close at the finish. The Florida Gator got his hand on the wall in 21.81, while Kulow took second in 21.99.

“I was really cold before the second swim-off, which is not quite optimal for a max effort,” he said. “I had a really bad start and he had a great start, and I let him get a little too far ahead.”

Kulow also qualified in the 100-meter butterfly in the trials, but after finishing so late Thursday night decided to scratch from the race that began early Friday morning.

“I’d just swam two times more than I was expecting and I didn't want to put myself in a position where I ended the meet on a botched swim,” he said. “I didn't get to eat dinner until 11:30 p.m. and didn't fall asleep until probably 1:30 a.m., so it was just the perfect storm for a bad race.”

First Swim

Kulow kicked things off on his week at the trials Tuesday when he qualified for the 100-meter free semifinal. He finished 10th in a time of 48.50 seconds and was an alternate for a loaded final, which was held Wednesday night and featured defending Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel, who finished third in the event.

“I think I did OK with how stressed and nervous I was for it, but obviously I wasn't thrilled with it,” he said of his times. “It's kind of frustrating because I feel like from how I was performing in practice I could have gone a lot faster. But realistically, even if I had swam my best, I probably wouldn’t have made the final.”

He said handling the pressure of such a big meet wasn’t easy, but having a strong support team including family, friends and his teammates helped keep him grounded.

“At that point you just have to trust the training,” he said. “I was as prepared as I possibly could be and I did as well as I could at that moment.”

Early Success

Things may not have gone quite how he’d hoped at the trials, but Kulow has had a great deal of success in his swimming career so far.

As a senior at Lander Valley High School, he was the No. 1-ranked swimmer in Wyoming for the class of 2022 and listed as the No. 43 ranked swimmer in the country. Kulow won 11 state titles at Lander, helping the program to its 26th consecutive championship as a senior.

He also took first in the 50 free, 100 free and 200 individual medley at the 2022 Speedo Sectionals in Arizona and competed at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the 50 free.

He decided to take his swimming talent to ASU under then-head coach Bob Bowman, who also coached Michael Phelps, the most decorated swimmer in U.S. history. In just his second year with the team, the Sun Devils won their first national title last spring.

“It was a dream come true,” Kulow said. “The team was exceptional, and I think it's really cool that we still were able to win even though we kind of underperformed as a whole. I think that’s a testament to just how talented our team was. I mean, that's pretty much one of the biggest swimming stages in short-course swimming, so it’s an incredible achievement to share with your closest friends.”

Kulow helped ASU break the NCAA record in the 400 medley relay (2:47.53) and 400 free relay (2:43.40). He also is a five-time Pac-12 champion as part of the 200 medley relay in 2023 and the 200 medley relay, 200 free relay, 400 medley relay and 400 free relay in 2024.

As a sophomore, he was named the CSC All-America Team Member of the Year for Division I Men's Swim and Dive for 2023-24. He also made the U.S. National Team.

He was named the 2022-23 Pac-12 Men's Freshman of the Year in 2023 and last summer competed at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, where he won six medals — gold in the 400 mixed medley and 400 medley relay along with the silver medal in the 100-meter free, 400 free relay, mixed 400 free relay and 50 freestyle.

With the trials over, Kulow said he plans to take some time off to rest an injured shoulder before starting to gear up for his junior season at ASU.

“I want to go home and do some hiking, biking and hanging out in the mountains,” he said about looking forward to returning home to Wyoming to recharge. “I’m going to go and recoup and then get back into it full force come mid-August.”